The soapboxes continue! As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
Have some headlines
- The State of the Three Tribes in G5
- Rockhoof's Bonus Lesson!
- Sunset Shimmer Counter Claim
- My Little Pony: The Movie vs. My Little Pony: A New Generation
The State of the Three Tribes in G5
By: nopony
Here's a summary of the condition of the three main pony races in G5, focusing on politics and technology. Unless otherwise stated, it describes the state before the main events of the movie.
Earth Ponies
We don't know who has the political power in Maretime Bay (before Sproutbecomes a self-proclaimed Emperor). We only see the law enforcement department, consisting of sheriff Hitch and deputy Sprout. It's unknown whether they are the only two ponies to keep order in the entire town. The CanterLogic corporation and its CEO Phyllis are also an important factor. Their technology resembles what we had in the 20th century, I especially like the tram - it looks cool, and adds to the charming atmosphere of the town. Is Maretime Bay the only place where Earth Ponies live? If so, it means that some terrible cataclysm must have happened to the race that once was the most widespread on the continent of Equestria.
Pagasi
The city of Zephyr Heights seems to be located in the place formerly known as Canterlot, which suggests that they probably won a war, because the other races (especially Unicorns, who were the majority there) wouldn't abandon their capital without a fight. It's a monarchy, where Queen Haven tries to keep the morale high, mostly by using her talented daughter Pipp who sings songs that lift the spirits of the flightless citizens. In the real world the members of royal families are usually celebrities, but they don't actually perform on stage (maybe there are some real life examples of this, but I don't know any). But does the Queen have real power? She was arrested on first sign of failure, so either somepony else actually rules Zephyr Heights, or a coup happened. The Pegasus technology resembles our contemporary level of advancement, and, not unlike the real world today, focuses on information, communication, and social media.
Unicorns
We don't know anything about their politics, the only important figure we see is Alphabittle, but he doesn't seem to have any formal power (he eminds me of Grampa Gruff, who is often considered a representative of the Griffons in FiM, despite apparently not having any government position). Unlike Pegasi, the Unicorns don't have anypony to keep the morale high after they lost their magic, so the result is that they are quite apathetic (except Izzy), and for some reason they became superstitious. As for technology, they probably didn't need much of it when they had magic, and after they lost it, they used the local resources available in the forest to partially replace it. We see it on the example of the "Just Prance" machine, which is a mechanism made mostly of wood, and uses animals as a power source. The level of technology is hard to define, because it doesn't resemble anything that humans made. Also Bridlewood has a unique architectural style, which we see in case of Izzy's house.
That's what we know for now, hopefully the series will expand on the lore.
Rockhoof's Bonus Lesson!
By Oddball Tales
Everyone knows the tale of the mighty Rockhoof who saved his village from a volcanic eruption...but there was another Rockhof story featured in IDW's Legends of Magic series that, in my opinion, is an equally worthy if not a BETTER tale! Today I shall be talking about some of the lessons we can learn from it. Spoilers ahead for Legends of Magic #2!
The story begins (well, technically with Sunburst reading to Luna, BUT) with Rockhoof accepting his reward for his quick thinking and courage in the previous tale...but only desiring to be accepted into the Mighty Helm! He is accepted and begins his training, which starts off well, but he is then invited to one too many parties and eating contests with two of his fellow guards ponies. While not terrible ponies, these two prove themselves to be negative influences on Rockhoof, and soon all the training he has done is wiped away due to his hanging out with them partying instead of sticking to his routine of healthy eating and working out. When the time arises and there is more trouble with the volcano, these two think of every excuse possible not to go up the mountain and instead return home. After initially failing his mission and causing more trouble, Rockhoof goes full Rocky and gets back into shape, and this time joins his captain, Steela, to save the day. The captain would later on invite him out to a party, and Rockhoof learns the important lesson, as put by Starswirl-"...That determination and hard work are important, but that he could set aside time for relaxation with friends" and that "All good things require work, but balance is the most valuable skill of all."
I personally believe there is another lesson, and that is to be careful who you surround yourself with, as the people (or ponies) you hang out with can have a major influence on not only you but your life path too. The guards ponies, while seeming nice enough, really ended up hurting Rockhoof in many ways and when push came to shove, cowered when the time came to do their guard pony duty. Their objectives and Rockhoof's were ultimately very different, and I get a sense they were mostly there for the glory rather than the duty that came with it. Both lessons are very important!
All in all an awesome comic book and I highly recommend reading it if you are able!
I'm Oddball Tales, thanks for reading!
Sunset Shimmer Counter Claim
By: Manamori
I recently found myself watching a video published on YouTube by an analyst who goes by the name of Sawtooth Waves. I have been subscribed to his content for many years and have always enjoyed a lot of the speculation that he makes regarding FiM content. However, I found myself disagreeing with one of his more recent theories that he had tried to explain. In the video entitled “The Other Sunset Shimmer”, he presents the assumption that the Sunset Shimmer from Equestria is the only Sunset that exists, and that a human reflection of her just doesn’t exist within the world of Equestria Girls, and never has. The reason for this, apparently, is that fate decided that pony Sunset be the one to unify the pony and human worlds- as this can be seen in the yin/yang cutie mark on her flank. Sunset has brought over humans into Equestria (to become ponies), and ponies (and non pony creatures (Sirens, Dragons) have also made their way into the human world, and brought magic over into the world with them, where it originally didn’t exist (although it can be argued that is shouldn’t have been there in the first place…).
But here’s my beef with this theory. If Sunset Shimmer was truly meant to be a unifier of worlds, as her cutie mark depicts in its yin/yang motif, then this would automatically fly in the face of established cutie mark lore. Isn’t it understood that once a pony understands what their life’s purpose or special talent is, then the cutie mark will manifest? Sunset had her cutie mark long before she had ever found out about the portal and it leading to other worlds, that Celestia showed her back as a filly and while Sunset was still her personal student. So if she had not yet learned about the portal and other worlds, or the fact that she was meant to unify them, only in the second Equestria Girls movie (Rainbow Rocks), onward, then how would she have gotten her cutie mark and understood it, long before these events?
It doesn’t make sense.
My Little Pony: The Movie vs. My Little Pony: A New Generation
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
So I thought it would be fun to compare the newest MLP movie with its G4 counterpart and well see which wins over the other. Now this is my personal opinion and should not be taken as fast, you are free to disagree with my choice at the end!
So 2017 brought us My Little Pony: The Movie, a movie set in the FiM lore, introducing new characters and places, along with original characters and places, with a new animation style very different and very enhanced from the show in which the movie takes place in. Now while the movie does a great job with world building, giving us characters like Tempest and Novo, places like Mt. Aris and Klugetown, it fails in other areas, let me explain…
The movie feels very much like a season premiere or finale, just with a longer runtime and again, improved animations. It follows a very basic premise, in which it introduces an antagonist and it’s up to our heroes to either defeat or reform them in the end. Something we already have seen several times in the show, in fact the movie is kinda of like the Season 3 or 5 premiere, in which our Mane 6 go to an unexplored part of Equestria and encounter a new threat and have to stop it to save everypony.
And well that’s not the case with the newest movie, My Little Pony: A New Generation, it is an entirely different case. The new movie has the advantage of not having an established lore like its G4 counterpart, rather than going off of the show, it starts the show. A New Generation is well… new. It introduces an entirely new cast, with all new locations, (Well from what we are aware of) a brand new animation style, and while it does follow the similar premise of heroes going out to solve something and fix the world, there wasn’t any particular and clear antagonist. (Okay, maybe Sprout to a certain extent)
One thing I will mention about A New Generation is that the story did feel a little rushed at times and sometimes could have been done better, but well that’s something I own to its runtime, with only 9- minutes, like its G4 counterpart. Except for that, I can’t really think of anything negative to say about the new movie.
And so I have to say… A New Generation beats MLP: The Movie in almost every single category, which is evident, (At the time of writing this) with the film scores between the two movies. Now could MLP: The Movie stood a better chance if it started Friendship is Magic… Well Maybe, maybe not, but as it stands A New Generation, in my opinion, wins this matchup! And again, this has just been my take, you are free to disagree with anything I said and hopefully I haven’t triggered anyone too much!
